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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27372637">A Home for a Songbird</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SophieAyase/pseuds/SophieAyase'>SophieAyase</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Femslash Exchange, Femslash Exchange 2020, Post-Canon, Romance</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 17:29:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,219</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27372637</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SophieAyase/pseuds/SophieAyase</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Dorothea and Petra arrive in Brigid as the crown princess and her fiancée, but Dorothea's insecurities come to the fore.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dorothea Arnault/Petra Macneary</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Femslash Exchange 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Home for a Songbird</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfraven80/gifts">wolfraven80</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dorothea stepped from the carriage to gaze at the building before her. Stepping out behind her, Petra beamed. “I have been telling you it is beautiful, no?”</p><p>Beautiful, yes, but that wasn’t what first impressed Dorothea. “It’s so ...” Imposing? Stately? Massive? “... striking.”</p><p>Petra nodded as she took Dorothea’s hand. “It has been Brigid’s tradition that on marriage, the crown prince may choose her castle. This one was always being my favorite as a child. My parents and I spent many happy holidays here.” She was grinning. “I am very happy to be sharing it with you.”</p><p>Dorothea felt herself flushing red. She rarely lost her composure like this, but the sight before her, combined with Petra’s casualness to their impending marriage, was doing a number on her. “Oh, Petra...” She had meant to say something more substantive, but that was all that came out.</p><p>Petra squeezed her hand but began walking to the massive gate, pulling her along. “You will like it here, I am certain!”</p><p>“Yes,” Dorothea murmured. “I’m certain as well.”</p><hr/><p>In a way, she reflected, she oughtn’t to have been so taken aback. The building, in and of itself, was not nearly as impressive as Garreg Mach, or even some of the fancier opera houses she had performed in. But as she gazed around her from the dinner table, she realized what was different: it was <em>hers</em>. She lived there now.</p><p>From the streets to a castle. It had long been her plan, ever since she had first decided to join the Officers’ Academy, but now that it had actually happened, it was a little overwhelming.</p><p>She forced her attention back to the table. “It is simple, but I have missed it so,” Petra was saying to the woman across from her, in the language of Brigid. “Nowhere in Fódlan have I been able to find someone who makes it like here.”</p><p>“And your betrothed does not mind?” the woman asked, barely hiding her skepticism.</p><p>Petra ignored it. “Dorothea is like me!” she said brightly. “We enjoy the finer things, but simple things can be fine just as easily as complicated ones.”</p><p>“Er, yes. Simple foods can... delicious... be,” Dorothea said, struggling with the still unfamiliar language. <em>Now I know how Petra must feel</em>, she thought.</p><p>Nevertheless, the woman frowned. “Still, fish and potatoes are hardly a worthy meal for the return of our <em>dauphine</em>.”</p><p>Petra, seated at the head of the table, raised a hand to quiet her. “I did not want a lavish feast,” she said. “It wouldn’t do to get sick from a rich meal right after our journey.” She smiled. “That would hardly be a proper introduction for my beloved to her new country.”</p><p>The woman seemed placated, but Dorothea’s heart jumped. Whether because Petra had described her as her “beloved,” or because she’d reaffirmed Brigid as “her new country,” she wasn’t sure. Or did Petra use another word? Perhaps the word she’d understood to mean ‘beloved’ really meant something like ‘partner.’</p><p>“Don’t you agree?” Petra asked her with a warm smile. She elegantly raised her wine goblet to her mouth and took a drink. Apparently, she was unconcerned about the effect of the wine on her stomach. Dorothea was struck by the ease with which she had taken on this regal affect. It had been easy to forget, around Edie and Claude and Dimitri, that Petra was royalty too. She had always seemed so normal, so like Dorothea. But now Dorothea could see the ease with which she could float between her personae: from the heir to Brigid’s throne to Dorothea’s peer, and back.</p><p>“Dorothea?” Petra prompted, a trace of worry entering her smile.</p><p>“Oh.” Dorothea blinked. “Sorry, I was thinking about something,” she said vaguely, slipping back into her native language. “Yes, I agree.”</p><p>“And Armand’s fish and potatoes are the best in all Brigid,” Petra added brightly, apparently speaking to herself as well as Dorothea and the others at the table. She’d told Dorothea earlier that she had wanted the two of them to dine alone, but some of the nearby nobles had insisted they be allowed to attend her first dinner back on the island, and Dorothea’s first appearance. Dorothea wondered if the aggressively simple meal was Petra’s retribution for her unwanted guests.</p><p>The man two seats down from Dorothea spoke up. “Your Highness, I wonder if we might discuss the happenings in Shaughnessy.”</p><p>Petra’s face made a movement Dorothea could only describe as a smirk. “We might – tomorrow, Lord Walpole. Dorothea and I have had a long journey. Tonight is not the time for any political conversations.” Under the table, Petra reached out to rest her hand on Dorothea’s knee.</p><p>Her touch felt warm, and not only with body heat.</p><hr/><p>Later that evening, Dorothea was admiring the castle’s small gallery when Petra appeared at her side.</p><p>“That is my great-grandfather,” she said of the painting Dorothea was standing in front of. “He was being Brigid’s ruler for only fifteen years, but he has made many improvements in people’s lives.”</p><p>Dorothea smiled in response. “I feel a little out of place here,” she murmured, as much to herself as to Petra. “All this history, and here I am. Just a songbird off the streets.”</p><p>Petra looked positively anguished. “Do not be saying that, Dorothea! I am glad that you are here with me. You are as beautiful as my ancestors,” she continued, gazing around the room at their portraits. “I will be happy for you to take your place among them in history of Brigid.”</p><p>Dorothea smiled, but inwardly she was unconvinced. “You don’t think I’ll stick out? The one not of noble birth.”</p><p>Petra shook her head and took both of Dorothea’s hands. She looked in her eyes earnestly. “In Brigid, we have always been valuing diplomacy,” she acknowledged, “but we do not marry those we are not loving. It does not make marriages be solid, and a tenuous marriage is more bad than none.”</p><p>Dorothea cast her gaze to her feet, embarrassed by Petra’s stare. “And you are loving me?” she asked softly, not even realizing she was mimicking Petra’s speech.</p><p>Petra gasped. “Dorothea!” She dropped her hands to hold her head, raise it back to meet her eye. “You must know that I am loving you for very long.”</p><p>“And your family won’t be upset that you’re not marrying another royal, like –”</p><p>“If I had been wanting to marry Edelgard or Claude, I would have been pursuing them,” Petra cut her off. “But I am wanting to marry you because I am loving you very much. You make me feeling happy.”</p><p>Dorothea tried to blink away the tears forming in her eyes, but was forced to reach up to wipe them. “You’re sure?” she said meekly.</p><p>“Dorothea,” Petra said, her voice gentle and reverent, as if invoking a saint, “You are my friend and my beloved” – so she <em>had</em> meant that, Dorothea thought – “and I am happy you will be marrying me.” She stretched up slightly to kiss Dorothea’s cheek. “My family is happy with you, but if they were not, it would not be mattering. You are my choice of wife and princess.” She took Dorothea in her arms for a loose hug. “You are deserving to be here because I am loving you.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Originally, I intended this to be a Gothic mystery about a haunted castle, but I realized I had to get them to the castle first, and then I ended up going from that first scene in a completely different direction.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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